This is a group of mates who have been playing wargames together in Hobart, Tasmania since the early '70s. HQ is Jim's place in Battery Point, but games are played at several venues in Tasmania, Canberra & even England. If you want to get hold of us, please email campcromwell@netspace.net.au

Both sides were pretty unimpressed with the terrain Nick had provided for them. While there was a good deal of welcome concealment in the form of low hedges & cornfields, rivers & streams cut of corners & a road embankment ran almost down the middle between the two armies making attacking a dangerous option (bogging roll to cross).

The Germans got the first move but held back defending the wood with the British RH objective with Flakpanzers inside & Jagdpanzers on the edge, Panthers on the left and right of it, & Whitman in ambush.

The Brits deployed their mass of armour in a long line, weighted to the right with the M10s in the centre. The Sextons were in a conrfield in the rear while the infantry were in the centre cornfield. The infantry snuck forward in the cornfields while the armour was carefully positioned behind the embankment & the Sextons did a bit of long range sniping - getting first blood by popping a Panther.

With both sides at long range and firing at veteran concealed targets across embankments, hedges, woods & cornfields it was all about sixes. The Brits immediately got the best of it picking on the Jagdpanzers in the wood & popping 2 for no loss.

Whitman came out of ambush in a hedge on the German lright. He had 3 shots with re-rolls & 5's to hit the Cromwells - and missed the lot. The Panthers came forward centre & (German) left but also missed before stormtropping back out of range.

The Sextons dropped smoke to screen off Panthers on each flank, the M10s moved up & fired at the command platoon - 4 dice, 4 rats & a dead CIC. On the right the LH Cromwell platoon charged over the embankment, passed all bogging rolls & took 4 side shots at Whitman's Tiger. The Firefly & first 2 Cromwells missed, but the 4th hit, Steve rolled a 1 & Whitman died. With that double whammy the German morale cracked & they conceded the battle.

The Germans had lost their CiC, their Hero & half their armour without even getting a hit on the Brits. While the Brits might claim to have used some pretty good tactics, it has to be admitted that for once the Red Rats trunped the famous black L's. A good plan backed by hot dice is a pretty mean combination - it was all over in less than an hour.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The Germans defended in a Cauldron mission deploying 2 Grenadier & a Pioneer around the objectives with 3 Pak40's in immediate ambush, Tigers, 105's, SPAA & HMG in delayed reserve. The Russians had about 7 T34/85's & 3 JS on the table to start with more T34/85/s, a horde of light tanks & 3 A/cars in reserve. The ambush was aimed at the T34's & they suffered enough to run away to join the rest of the army on the other flank. But the bailed one left behind got popped forcing a morale test & the platoon was lost. Meanwhile the other T34 platoon & the SU's were softening up the grenadiers & pioneers on the objective in the open while the light tanks rushed up to the German left flank.

The Germans brought their 105s on as their first reserve & started whittling away at the soviet armour in crowded templates. As soon as the Russians got all their forces massed they started their assault on the German infantry. It gave ground to buy time & finally the Tigers arrived behind the JS's& took them on. The T34's desisted from the attack on the infantry to support the JS's, but the Paks had redeployed from the right to support the Tigers. The light tanks continued the assault on the grenadiers.

The Tigers had a charmed life while the Russians took a pounding. The light tanks beat the grenadiers, but had accumulated over 50% losses themselves from artillery, infantry & finally SPAA. The JS's & T34s also lost more than half to the Tigers & Paks. The light tanks & JS's failed morale, the T34's passed. But with the other T34 platoon already gone, that meant an army morale test - which also failed giving the Germans victory in an exciting little battle.

Pic 1: The Paks are finishing off the T34s on the right rear. The Sviet armour is massing on the left. The 105s are deploying in teh foreground.

Pic 2: At the end the Tigers sit on the hill overlooking the battlefield littered with burning Soviet tanks.

The map attached has no scale, but other maps indicate that it is 3 miles from Minden to Hahlen, so the 8x6 table matches the map at 30cm = 1 km. the OOB has been worked out to this scale. An infantry stand is about 2/3 of a battalion, a cavalry stand about 3 squadrons & a gun stand about 12 guns.

The French marched out of Minden & over pontoon bridges on the R. Bastau during the night to attack the Allies. The Allies got early warning from deserters & were able to deploy as fast the French.

Both armies have a main body & secondary corps (on the wing nearest the R. Wesser), so both have 2 Generals - a CiC with 3 dice & a Corps commander with 2 dice. Army morale tests apply separately to the main bodies & the corps as well as to the total. If a corps fails, it must retire if separated from the main body, or if not separated cease attacking. If the main body fails, or the total fails, the battle is lost.

Both sides must deploy with their small corps on the Wesser wing, otherwise, may deploy freely not closer than 20cm to a line running from Hamlen to Maulbeerkamp then east to the Wesser. Both sides are to mark their deployment on maps before deploying figures. The maps I have do not correspond to the OOB I have - the OOBs have more troops in the secondary corps than shown on the map. It seems that both sides swapped some units from the corps to the main body. The players can do this too. The OOB has CGs of 8 stands, but they can be split up differently.

Ferdinand (Mark) pushed the scenario rule about swapping CGs further than intended & making Wangenheim's (Renfrey's) corps all British, but we let it go.Contades (SteveJ) deployed short of the limit in a defensive box.The Allies attacked on their left with the British and in the centre launched a converging attack on the angle in the French line.The French tried to disrupt the Allied attack by sending their cavalry forward on the left.The British cavalry beat their opposite number, but the French had a line of squares behind to prevent exploitation.The British infantry were held up for a while, but eventually got some good dice & the tide turned fir them.In the centre, the French cavalry got into all sorts of trouble having been sent out unsupported.The Allied attack on the centre was met by French grenadiers with artillery support. The grenadiers held out fro a time, but the falling abck of the French cavalry with Allied cavalry in hot pursuit caused mayhem in the area & they were defeated leaving the French line broken & their army morale test failed.

Features of the battle included:The Allies' totally incompetent handling of their artillery - which did not fire a shot.The Allies identified and exploited the essential weakness of the French position - the angle in the line.The French defensive posture did not allow them to use their superior numbers - on a restricted front the Allied quality counted.The French handled their cavalry badly.The rules worked well. There were a couple of minor points I noted for improvement - mainly to do with artillery (this is the first battle we've had with significant artillery). The shemozzle in the centre looked very messy, but with the alternate move system with the routs done in the other side's turn it just sorted itself out remarkably well.

The pics are taken from the French right.

Pic 1: The British attack is in foreground from the right. The cavalry ahs just won, the infnatry is still struggling. The German attack on the centre is about to go in. French cavalry is scattered about no mans land.

Renfrey erred in placing one objective where the Ities had an approach partly protected by ridges. He placed 2 Digger platoons, 2pdr antitank guns & his double 25 pdr batteries on the table with more Diggers, HMGs, mortars, Valentines & a Matilda to come.The Ities placed artillery, HMGs & Infantry on the table at the start & tried to weaken the defences while waiting for their reserves. As the Itie armour arrived it was accumulated in one lump behind the ridges. When the last platoon came on the Itie armour charged forward en masse. The Ozzie reserves that had arrived had been sent to harrass the Itie artillery & were unable to assist the diggers on the objective. They didn't have a hope & were quickly over-run.A case of a deployment mistake ruthlessly exploited. The pic shows the Itie swarm taking the objective.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

David's Seleucids v. Renfrey's PergumenesA small Camp Cromwell Rules battle on 6x4 table.David's planned flanking manoeuvre went too wide & failed to acheive anything except keep his best troops out of the action. This left Renfrey with more units in the centre, but he failed to use them effectively while the Seleucids got the best of the dice in the even fights. When the Seleucid phalanx pursued recklessly after their opposite number, the Pergumenes were about to pincer it with their reserves, but the Greek Cavalry routed the Cataphracts just in time to cause the Pergumenes to fail their army morale test first.

FOW

On the other table Rich Introduced his brother in law Mark to FOW with 3 quick 700 pts tank battles.Your reporter was too busy umpiring the other table to provide any details.

Terrain:There is a gentle slope down from the Royalist position, but not tactically significant.There are roads, but they are just muddy paths, so have no sognificance & are not on the tbale.The main feature is a ditch curving across the Royalist front. +1 defending the far side. -1 charging over.The ditch on the table has some scrub, but it's decoration - no significant cover.There is low hill behind the Parliament line & an enclosed field behind the Royalists (where Newcastles' men made their last stand).

Scenario:Both sides can divide their force into as many Command Groups as they like & use map deployment.Royalists on their side of the ditch. Frontage no wider than ditch.Scotts/Parliament no closer than 40cm from the ditch. Frontage no wider than ditch.Scotts/Parliament get 1st turn & must attack - Royalists win if battle not decided by nightfall = 10.30 pm real time.Both sides have a CIC & 2 wing commanders. The wing commanders can only give orders to their own command (which comprises the cavalry & support troops on one flank), the CIC can give orders to anyone. Note that although Cromwell is the best general (3 dice) he is only a wing commander.

The Battle:The Allies attacked late in the day on the whole front. Mostly the attack was held off, but Cromwell won his (left) flank decisively, rallied his men & sent them into the Royalist rear to cause a general rout.

The Wargame:Royalists: Renfrey & Nick.Parliament: Mark, Dillon & David.Cromwell (Dillon) advanced to attack on the right while tendative advances were made on the left by Fairfax (David) & in the centre by Leslie (Mark). The Royalists responded by making a spoiling attack on their right while sending reserves to strengthen their left. Their right flank attack won some & lost some, but it distracted Mark & his advance on the centre never gathered momentum. Meanwhile Cromwell's attack simply wasn't strong enough & the Royalists were able to make counterattacks on the flanks of his units.When time was called the Royalists had the upper hand. Their spoiling attack on their right had won more than it had lost, even though it was petering out under the counterattack from the centre. Their own centre was almost untouched & their right had Cromwell on the run. Before Parliament could tidy up their left & mount an attack on the centre, the Royalist right would have plenty of time to reorganise to be able to attack their flank. A Royalist victory.It was a bit ambitious to do such a big multi-player battle for players having their 1st go at the new rules, but it moved along pretty well & we got a lot done in 2 hours fighting time.